No, I will not just pick one iteration. It’s my countdown. I do what I want.

I’ve mentioned Monster Hunter before, on more than one occasion. It’s a pretty big deal around these parts. I’ve purchased more than one gaming system solely on the basis that it’ll have a Monster Hunter title exclusive to it.

I’ve been playing this series for ten years now. I’m not going to consistently spend time doing anything for ten years unless I love doing it.

Monster Hunter has always been a very weird game to try and describe to someone. The name itself does a fairly good job of it on its own. Its a game where you hunt monsters. You’re always hunting monsters. It’s an incredibly simplistic premise, but wihtin that premise lies the complexity of it.

The most recent addition to the MH family, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, boasts a catalog of 98 different monsters. Ninety-eight. Granted, 23 of them are smaller fodder monsters that, admittedly, don’t mean very much, but that still leaves 75 big dudes that have hunting quests dedicated solely to them. I’ve had the game since mid-February and I still haven’t hunted a few of them. And each monster works differently from one another, meaning that there are 75 different variations of ‘Monster Hunting’.

When you realize that your choice of weapon will determine how you take on each monster, suddenly the number of fight variation increases exponentially. Tactics and playstyle will similarly shift based on what items you bring along on your hunt with you, or whether you’re going solo or with a few other buddies.

My enjoyment of this simple, unassuming game comes from the depth of it. Not the fantastic artstyle or the varied challenge of the monsters or even the awesome soundtrack. It comes from the fact that I can drop 300 hours into the game and still have so much left to do.